Meet Rishi Tripathy
Builder of the Week
Creator of Start.City
Product Manager at On Deck
Duke University Graduate
How did Rishi end up at On Deck?
- Last summer, Rishi interned at Google and was all set to return to Google this fall.
- At the beginning of quarantine, he realized his summer would be very boring if he didn't find something to do, so he found an apprenticeship for the summer with Steve Schlafman.
- Ended up having the opportunity to join the On Deck team as they build out their new education business.
How did he start working on Start.City?
- It's a social experiment based around the question of how he can meet people that he didn't go to school with and that don't work at his company, when he moves to San Francisco.
- About a month ago, he decided to pull the trigger on building an "online city" for people that are new to tech.
- Designed to serve as an online watering hole for people that are new to the industry.
- Hoping to help people who may not have a network in tech build relationships and have a comfortable place to share that experience with others who are experiencing similar things.
- Selecting for people who want to engage with others and build relationships.
What are the benefits of learning in public?
- Everybody is doing stuff. If you're working, you're doing stuff. Even at home, you're doing stuff. So share that with others and if you do it in a way that's easily digestible, it'll help others feel less alone in their struggles and it may be helpful for them!
- Rishi has grown his Twitter following 12x by simply sharing what he is learning and doing. Now he can ask questions on Twitter and get responses!
- Rishi's friend, Paige, encouraged him to start learning in public and they started holding each other accountable.
- It can feel like screaming into the void at first, but if you can scream into the void long enough, eventually someone will scream back. And once one person screams back, there are hundreds of people right there, ready to join in.
How can you pitch yourself better?
- Spend 80% of the time you spend looking for new opportunities on the 20% of opportunities that are most meaningful to you.
- Put in a few hours to demonstrate how you can provide value for a specific opportunity, and you can make a much better first impression.
- Be completely genuine about why you want to be involved.
- Share how the values of the organization resonate with you.
- Try to identify what sort of tactical value you can provide.
- If the core risks of an opportunity align with your skillset/aspirations, then you're in control of your own destiny.
- Then it's up to you because you can move the needle.
- Try to find the places where you uniquely can make a difference.
- If you're going to spend 40 hours/week doing something, you might as well spend 4 hours trying to get the job.
How can people support Rishi?
- Follow him on Twitter: @rishi_tripathy_
- Check out his newsletter: ikiguy.substack.com
- Join the waitlist for Start.City
